Road test: Volkswagen e-Golf

Sparky: Under the bonnet, there’s a 113hp electric motor with a top speed of 87mph and a single-speed automatic gearbox (Image: LES)

At first glance, VW’s latest model looks like an ordinary Golf. Then you notice C-shaped LED front lights, aerodynamic alloy wheels and the lack of a tailpipe, which add up to the all-electric e-Golf.

Under the bonnet, there’s a 113hp electric motor with a top speed of 87mph and a single-speed automatic gearbox, plus some clever tweaks to increase the range to a claimed 118 miles. To drive, it feels like an almost silent version of a conventional Golf, with a sprightly pick-up which accelerates the car to 62mph in 10.4 seconds (much the same as in a 1.6-litre Golf BlueMotion turbodiesel), although using Eco and Eco+ modes will restrict the power and throttle response to increase the range.

You can further extend the mileage by using five different states of brake regeneration, which means you can drive most of the time using just the throttle.

A standard full charge for the lithium ion battery takes 13 hours, but you can fast-charge it to 80 per cent in 35 minutes.